Phi Beta Iota: We are surprised that Brazil, India, and Russia are not doing more to put a complete stop to the illegal and immoral attacks on Tripoli. The US and UK governments are completely out of control, completely without any possible legal ethical justification for what they are doing, and shaming all of us–at our expense in incurred debt, we might add. Flag officers, commanders, and pilots should be held accountable for failing to refuse illegal orders–their lack of individual integrity is what enables a lack of government integrity to be so dangerous and costly to humanity.
Phi Beta Iota: Mr. Vance does something we have not seen before. He enumerates all the parts of government that are unconstitutional, and makes a case for shutting down each in turn. His final paragraph is especially noteworthy.
The U.S. intervention in Libya’s civil war, intervention that began with a surplus of confusion about capabilities and a shortage of candor about objectives, is now taking a toll on the rule of law. In a bipartisan cascade of hypocrisies, a liberal president, with the collaborative silence of most congressional conservatives, is traducing the War Powers Resolution.
President Obama could be impeached for violating U.S. Constitution and law by going into Libya without congressional consent, but Rep. Dennis Kucinich says he doesn't want to cause that kind of havoc on the Republic, he just wants the United States to get out of Libya's civil war. While many lawmakers in general support the U.S. role in Libya, even if they want the final say on approving military action, Kucinich, D-Ohio, will introduce a joint resolution when Congress returns this week that he says “hopefully will lead us out of this mess that we've waded into in Libya.”
. . . . . . .
Kucinich said the U.S. has no business intervening in Libya because it's a civil war. He added that the rebel forces the U.S. and NATO appear to be backing are demonstrating some disturbing behaviors, including “committing some of the same practices that they accused Colonel Qaddafi of.” Beyond that, he added, the whole operation stinks of a bid for the oil fields of Benghazi, where the rebels have set up their stronghold.
Military action passes 60-day threshold, but Obama won't seek congressional approval
The White House is skipping a legal deadline to seek congressional authorization of the military action in Libya — but few on the Hill are objecting.
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973 a president can only send troops into combat for 60 days without congressional mandate. That deadline fell Friday, but in absence of pressure from Congress, White House officials say they think they're on solid ground continuing U.S. involvement in the mission, now led by NATO, without formal congressional sign-off — as long as consultations with Congress continue.
In that spirit President Barack Obama sent a letter to congressional leaders Friday saying U.S. involvement remains critical and welcoming congressional input.
Phi Beta Iota: Unconstitutional, illegal, immoral — business as usual.
Nuclear Pakistan, we are often told, is the Islamic-state equivalent of a Wall Street firm: In geostrategic terms, it is too big to fail. That explains why, even as the Obama administration begins preparing for modest troop withdrawals from Afghanistan this July, it dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Islamabad last week to smooth over bilateral relations with Pakistan's paranoid regime, which were strained even before the killing of Osama bin Laden. But Clinton's trip and the Obama administration's instinctive embrace of Islamabad is a fool's errand, doomed by history, geography and globalization itself.
In fact, the U.S. should drop the entire Afghanistan-Pakistan mess in China's lap now, while the getting is good, and here are the reasons why: …
Phi Beta Iota: World Politics Review has not figured out the new world of information quite yet, and we have no desire to copy their entire article. Suffice to say that Barnett, who has gotten much more coherent since his first book, is on target here, but add to that that the US Government's foreign policy is both ideological and idiotic — apart from the huge error by Zbigniew Brzezinski giving Pakistan the nuclear bomb in the first place, the US has no business in Central Asia that is of benefit to the American people, only to the American carpet-baggers that feed at the public treasury (now much depleted and greatly in debt) while looting foreign countries.
From a senior engineer of Iranian descent often in Iran:
The view from within Iran is that, “help us get rid of this regime”, people are even willing to welcome an all out air assault if it ends up with an eventual regime change , move to secularize, and early stages of democracy.
I do not see an attack on Iran in the coming year. However if there is ever a good time to attack the regime with air strikes this is it. The removal of the subsidies by the government every day common goods which accrued about 3 months ago which has now resulted in a major price increase on common good is just hitting the average poke book.
The utilities have gone up over %50 and in some cases more than doubled.
The number of factories closing down and the businesses going out of business which results in major layoffs is on the rise. The oil exports are decreasing and more oil wells are being shut down due to technical problems.
The majority of people have lost hope of meaningful reform.
Gunships vs Gaddafi: UK to send Apache attack choppers to Libya
